Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Rat infestation on Perry Place

Yuh oh. Sounds like the alley behind 1400 Perry Place NW, between Otis and Spring, has a rat problem. There's been some listserve traffic about it, there's trash getting dumped and the city hasn't done anything about it, despite it getting reported by residents. As the resident puts it, there are two issues: one, that the city needs to take care of the trash dumping issue, and two, that they need to respond to citizen complaints.

Not a great situation for the folks whose houses are on the alley, but at least it brings the issue up. If you see trash getting dumped, report it to the city. If it keeps happening, it can cause real health issues with rats and more, aside from just looking bad.

Well I know that people came down and got together in the alley (a experience I will never forget) and you have seen a dramatic change. However the rats are still around and huge. Maybe if they break down harder on the people who litter and throw trash out without bags should continue to get fined. Other than that...GOOD JOB!

DPW doesn't deal with the rat problem. They will clean up the trash, but if it's rats you've got, you need to call DOH. Gerard Brown is the go-to-guy at DOH for rats. He and his team will come out and bait for them.

Problem with baiting alleys is that you have to get the neighbors to allow access to their backyards to the DOH folks to bait. It makes a huge different to give them access. If they just bait the alley, it helps, but not much.